Tree-lined Main Street of Ginza Bricktown, circa 1880

Tree-lined Main Street of Ginza Bricktown, circa 1880

Cherry trees, prominent in the previous print, initially lined the street along with maples, pines, and oaks, but they disappeared and the willow became the symbol of the Ginza's main street. This photo contrasts sharply with the idealized view of the Bricktown presented in woodblock prints of the time. Most foreign visitors who came to Japan expecting to experience "Old Japan" bemoaned this kind of pseudo-westernization of Edo/Tokyo even as Japanese built such displays of "civilization and enlightenment" to impress an international audience with Japan's modernization.

Tree-lined Main Street of Ginza Bricktown, circa 1880	Cherry trees, prominent in the previous print, initially lined the street along with maples, pines, and oaks, but they disappeared and the willow became the symbol of the Ginza's main street. This photo contrasts sharply with the idealized view of the Bricktown presented in woodblock prints of the time. Most foreign visitors who came to Japan expecting to experience "Old Japan" bemoaned this kind of pseudo-westernization of Edo/Tokyo even as Japanese built such displays of "civilization and enlightenment" to impress an international audience with Japan's modernization.